AS a nipper Roger Briginshaw would sit in the dusty shell of a BMW toy car with rickety wheels pestering his dad to push him around the family-run workshop.

How he wished that his dad and grandfather would find the time to finish it so he could whizz about pretending to be one of the great racing drivers of the day.

But sadly they didn't and the exquisite shell of the BMW 328 crafted by Roger's grandfather Charles – a prolific collector of classic cars – sat untouched for many years.

That was until three years ago when Roger, spurred into action by his beloved father's death, decided it was a project that needed to be finished in his memory.

Hundreds of hours and pounds later and the distribution manger has created a thing of beauty which his children Isabel, 10, and Callum, five, adore.

Propelled by a 24-volt electric golf buggy engine in the boot the metallic silver BMW can reach speeds of 8mph, has forward and reverse, and turns heads everywhere it goes.

"I just started doing it when my father died," said Roger, 39, who lives with the children and wife Sarah in Bradley Stoke.

"As a tribute to him I decided to do the car. He would have loved doing it with me.

"Cars are in our blood.

"I rang mum and said I was coming to get the fibreglass shell and do it for the kids."

The original BMW 328 was built for the Mille Miglia – a 1,500km open-road endurance race which took place in Italy 24 times from 1927 to 1957 attracting five million spectators.

It has since been reborn as a race for classic and vintage cars produced no later than 1957.

"My grandfather Charles was a very talented craftsman in the motor trade and would restore motor cars.

"He set about building a wooden plug so he could build a shell and make a small version of the BMW 328 for his kids.

"He had access to the original BMW 328 from which he took all the measurements from and used scale drawings to make the plug in the 1970s."

But with so much going on in his life Charles, who with Roger's dad ran Western Services in Midland Road until its closure in 1997, managed only to get as far as putting a windscreen on the car and fitting a floor and some wheels.

In 1987 Roger's dad, also Roger, fell ill and told his son to make sure he took the shell away and made it for any children he may have but it remained untouched.

While Roger's dad sadly never got to see the finished article, his brother Graham, did.

Roger said: "I rang Graham who lives in Gloucester and said I had got it going and he was here like a shot and totally smitten with it. He has built one as well."

One of the great pleasures Roger has had from the project, apart from seeing his two children race about in it, is the way it became a real family venture.

"Mum came around and helped sew the leather for the seats and we go to shows," he said.

"My wife Sarah has been an absolute saint. I even put building the play room on hold to finish it but I think she knew how much it meant to me."

And his children's faces lighting up every time they get the chance to go out in the car also make all the effort worth it.

"It's so nice seeing them showing so much interest in it, they really do love it," Roger said.

"They get their friends over saying my dad built me a car – I don't really think they can believe it."